Volunteers Count 2019 - Agenda Consulting · •31 organisations completed questionnaires this...

Volunteers Count 2019

Results Conference

Catherine Wearden and Aidan Stead

8th October 2019

Menu

1. Introduction

2. Analysis of Key Metrics

3. The Future of Volunteers Count

1 Introduction

Some housekeeping….

- Webinar should last around an hour

- We have muted everyone, to cut down on background noise

- If you have questions please use the chat function and send to Aidan Stead

- We will collate the questions and try to answer as many as possible

- We will send the slides afterwards and a link to a recording of the webinar

Welcome

Agenda Consulting

Research Consultancy working with not-for-profit organisations. We offer:

• Employee and Volunteer Engagement Surveys

• Pulse, On-boarding and Exit Surveys

• HR and Volunteer Management Benchmarking Studies

• Social Care Reward Benchmark Study

• Annual Pay Award Survey

We work in 4 sectors:

• UK Social Care, UK Third Sector, International NGOs, International Organisations

• Abbeyfield

• Action on Hearing Loss

• Alzheimer's Society

• Amnesty International

• Barnardo's

• Blenheim CDP

• Blind Veterans UK

• Breast Cancer Care

• British Heart Foundation

• British Red Cross

• Cats Protection

• Clic Sargent

• Crohn's and Colitis UK

• Donkey Sanctuary

• Douglas MacMillan Hospice

• English Heritage

• Guide Dogs for the Blind

Association

• Jewish Care

• Marie Curie

• MS Society

• Oxfam

• Prostate Cancer UK

• Refugee Council

• Royal British Legion

• Royal Voluntary Service

• Sense

• SSAFA

• The Churches Conservation

Trust

• The Horder Centre

• The National Trust for

Scotland

• ZSL

Volunteer Surveys

31 organisations:

Challenges of volunteer management/ data gathering

• Why collect data?

• What are the challenges?

Volunteers Count

1. Volunteer benchmarking study, focussing on key management metrics

2. Aims to enable participants to:

1. Understand how they compare with their peers/sector

2. Learn from others to improve performance

3. Make contact with other participants to share good practice

3. Provides information to inform policy and practice within the Third Sector

• 31 organisations completed questionnaires this year. In aggregate respondents:

• Had a total of 105,147 volunteers over the year

• These volunteers contributed a total of 29 million hours

• Statistics based on data submitted for 2019 study. For most organisations, this is

data from financial year 2018/19, i.e. April 2018 to March 2019

• Participants from the 2017 and 2015 studies were available to be chosen as peers

but were not included in sector-wide statistics

Volunteers Count 2019

Volunteers Count 2019

Participants by size

41%

32%

27%

% of participants by average number of volunteers over the year

200-1000

1001-5000

Over 5000

Participants by sector

1

1

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

5

5

5

6

7

7

8

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Arts/Culture

Environment/Conservation

Heritage

Sport/Recreation

Housing

Mental Health

Economic/Community development/Employment

Other

Animal Welfare

Education/ Training

Elderly/Old people

Hospice

Social care

Children/Young People

People with disabilities

Health care/Medical research

Number of participants in each sector

2 Analysis of Key Metrics

Annual change in volunteer numbers

9%

4%

2%

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

9%

10%

2019 2017 2015

Average number of hours per volunteer per month

6

9

12

5

9

13

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

200-1000

1001-5000

Over 5000

Lower Quartile (25%)

Median (50%)

Upper Quartile (75%)

Average volunteer

Aged

56

A few

times a

year

Percentage of participants which collect data on the following:

12%

49%

32%

61%

66%

83%

88%

8%

40%

40%

60%

67%

92%

94%

0%

19%

48%

58%

65%

84%

87%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Socio-economic group

Employment Status

Sexual Orientation

Disability

Ethnicity

Age

Gender

2019 2017 2015

Diversity

47%

3% 3% 2%

70%

4% 4% 3%

79%

8% 9%3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Female Ethnic Minority Identifying asDisabled

LGBTQ

% of volunteers who are:

Lower Quartile (25%) Median (50%) Upper Quartile (75%)

Areas in which organisations involve volunteers

23%

58%

61%

68%

74%

81%

84%

87%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Catering

Retail/shops

Research

Campaigning

Communication and Marketing

Central Functions

Core Purpose

Fundraising

Top five recruitment sources

35%

35%

45%

61%

68%

94%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Leaflet or poster

Internet search engine

Previously used organisation services

Social media

Organisation website

Word of mouth

Top five recruitment sources

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

2013 2015 2017 2019

% of organisations who chose social media as one of their top 5 sources for recruitment

Turnover of volunteers

17%

25%

30%

18%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Lower Quartile Median Upper Quartile Voluntary turnover(median)

Turnover of volunteers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2013 2015 2017 2019

Leaving information

20%

60%

25%

58%

21%

56%

11%

47%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Written information on leaving (% ofvolunteers)

Exit interviews (% of organisations

2019 2017 2015 2013

Reasons for leaving

32%

71%

82%

82%

89%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

It takes up too much time

Moving away from area

Health problems or old age

Taking up new employment

Change in home or work circumstances

Good practice in Learning and Development

• Structured learning programmes

• Bitesize sessions available

• Flexible training opportunities

• Involving staff in training of volunteers

• Improve communication of training opportunities

• E-learning

• Standardised and compulsory induction

Volunteer surveys

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2013 2015 2017 2019

Strategic Volunteering Development Function

Is the most senior Strategic Volunteering Development

Function person a member of the Senior Management Team?

50%

17%

40%

20%

40%

20%

35%

12%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Yes No, but attends regularly

2019 2017 2015 2013

Ratio of volunteers (Headcount) per SVD Function employees and volunteers (FTE):

225

272

558

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

2019 2017 2015

Ratio of volunteer contribution (based on national living wage) to total cost of volunteers

1.1

2

5.6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Lower Quartile (25%) Median (50%) Upper Quartile (75%)

Main volunteer data management system used

48% use cloud-based data management systems.

0%

6%

13%

13%

13%

16%

19%

19%

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20%

No system

System developed in-house

Module in HR system

Module in fundraising system

Purpose-built bought-in system

Spreadsheets

Off-the-shelf brought-in system e.g. Better Impact

Module in membership system

Functionality

21%

28%

34%

38%

41%

45%

55%

66%

79%

83%

83%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Allow volunteers to schedule themselves

Allow you to schedule volunteers

Allow mobile login by volunteers

Allow volunteers to access/update information

Undertake vetting

Enable online volunteer applications

Record recognition

Log and track volunteer hours

Record volunteers' history at your organisation

Manage mailings

Allow for reporting of volunteer data/hours

3 The Future of Volunteers Count

• Aberlour Child Trust

• Aldingbourne Trust

• Alzheimer's Society

• Battersea

• Blind Veterans UK

• Blue Cross

• Cats Protection

• Children's Hospices Across

Scotland (CHAS)

• Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust

• Crisis

• Cycling UK

• Durham University

• Essex Wildlife Trust

• Guide Dogs

• Helen And Douglas House

Hospice Care

• Independent Age

• Marie Curie

• Missing People

• National Museum Wales

• NSPCC- National Society for

the Prevention of Cruelty to

Children

• Queenscourt Hospice

• RNIB

• Rowans Hospice

• RSPCA

• Sense

• SSAFA The Armed Forces

Charity

• St Monica Trust

• Stroke Association (The)

• The Children's Society

• Versus Arthritis

• Workers' Educational

Association (WEA)

2019 Participants

31 Participants

Join Volunteers Count

Take part out of cycle and benefit from:

Your own organisation analysis

comparison with your chosen peers

all sector-wide reports

£700 + VAT

If you don’t have the time or resource…

Access the sector-wide reports:

2.1 Composition of Volunteers and the Strategic Volunteer

Development Function

2.2 Managing Volunteers: Recruitment, Learning and

Development, Recognition

£200 + VAT per report

Catherine Wearden

Senior Consultant

Catherine.wearden@agendaconsulting.co.uk

Aidan Stead

Research Consultant

Aidan.stead@agendaconsulting.co.uk

Clare Harris

Head of Business Development

Clare.harris@agendaconsulting.co.uk

01865 263720www.agendaconsulting.co.uk

Follow @AgendaConsult linkedin.com/company/agenda-consulting